Bait attractive to the cotton-boll weevil



STATES FICE.

FREDERICK rowan, or wasnmeromprsrmor or COLUMBIA, AND vroron K. oHnsnU'r, or IEYATTSVILLE, MARYLAND.

BAKT ATTRACTIVE To THE COTTON-BULL WEEVIL.

N Drawing. 7

To all whom it may concern. Q

i Be it known that'we, FREDERICK B. POWER and Vrcron K. CHESNUT, citizens of the United States of America, and emplo ees of the Department of Agriculture, resi ing in Washington, D. 0., and Hyattsville, Maryland, respectively, whose post-office addr s is Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. 0., have in- ]n vented a bait attractive to the cotton-boll. weevil involving the'fiemployment of certain volatile constituentsof the cotton plant as attracters, of which the following is a speci fication. I ,It' is "well known that the destruction caused by the cotton-boll-weevil amoiints an nually to many millions of dollars, and the prevention of'such an enormous loss to'the cotton crop through the depredatidns of this insect has therefore become one of the most important economic problems. The chief method that has thus far been successfully employed for mitigating this evil consists in dusting the cotton plants'with calcium ar- 5 senate and the use of this poisonous compound in the quantities required involves a very great expense.

Inasmuch as the cottonlplant' possesses a peculiar attraction for the 'so-ca'lled bollso weevil it has been considered that this must be due to an odor exhaled by. the plant. Investigations were consequently undertaken to ascertain the nature of th'e odorous'constituents. This prolonged-and difficult research has res'ultedin the isolation of a numberof definite compounds, and the field tests thus far made have established the fact that Application filed September .24, 1924. I Serial No. 739,690.

them is to attract the boll-Weevil, and the 60 '1nsect1cide or the insect trapping devices are to" destroy or catch the boll-weevil. They include such compounds as are obtained or obtainable from the co-tton plant; namely,

the methylamines; esters of organic acids, such as formic, acetic, and caproic acids; aldehydes, such as acetaldehyde and vzinillin; and substances belonging to theclass of terpenes. Any or all of the compounds enumerated above as occurring in thecotton pllant may be prepared by synthetic-a1 metho s We claim; I '1. A bait attractive to the cotton boll weevil comprising substances chemically identical with the volatile constituents of the cotton plant.

2. A- bait attractiveto the cotton boll Weevil comprising substances chemically identical with the volatile aliphatic amine constituents of the-cotton plant;

rnrini ncirn. rowan. vieron. K. j eHEsNur. 

